Battery maintainer question....for 3 vehicles

[star57]

I have the 04 RT, my Harley and my Porsche all need battery maintenace over the winter.

I was thinking about getting 3 tricle chargers and changing the connectors to male and getting BMW style connectors on the 911 and Harley...any thoughts on doing it.... I was doing some research and John Deer has the parts a bit less than BMW, any other source or a better way of feeding power to 3 units using a standard plug for all three.

That way my vest could be wired for both bikes.

FF

[Brimoon]

First, I would avoid trickle chargers unless you put them on a timer of some sort. A much better solution would be to use Deltran Battery Tenders which will prevent overcharging and cooking your battery. You could buy three Battery Tenders or even a Four Bank Battery Tender Charging Station which, as the name implies, can charge and maintain four batteries at once. Check out the Battery Tenders and how they work at Deltran

 

There is no reason that BMW-type accessory sockets cannot be installed on your Harley and Porsche, but remember that they can't be wired to turn off when the key is off. You could wire the sockets directly to the battery terminals, but please be sure that there are fuses in the circuits.

 

Good luck!

 

Brian

[Global_Rider]

I connected a YUASA Battery Analyzer to all of my bikes and bought a YUASA 12V 900 mA Battery Maintainer to keep them topped up during the off season.

 

The Battery Analyzer (see attachment) module unplugs from the harness leaving a SAE connector that the battery maintainer then connects to. You also don't have to hunt down a DMM to check the battery voltage. More than 12.5 V the light shows green; less, it shows red. I use 3M Dual Lock velcro-like strips to mount the module to my air filter housing on my GS.

 

I also wire my Heat-Troller vest controller to that same harness.

 

The battery charger/maintainer is a mere $29 and the battery analyzer a mere $10 at Aerostich. The charger is good for all types of batteries according to an e-mail received from a YUASA engineer.

 

An ALL-In-ONE solution.

 

YUASA Accessories - Chargers - Battery Analyzer

[SCOTTinNJ]

Check out some of the Powerlet products. I'd just attach a pigtail to any inaccessable battery, and then rotate a trickle charger between all three vehicles. For the accessable batteries, you can just use the allegator clips that will come with the trickle charger.

 

Here's the pigtail.

 

[RFW]

I have the 04 RT, my Harley and my Porsche all need battery maintenace over the winter.

I was thinking about getting 3 tricle chargers and changing the connectors to male and getting BMW style connectors on the 911 and Harley...any thoughts on doing it.... I was doing some research and John Deer has the parts a bit less than BMW, any other source or a better way of feeding power to 3 units using a standard plug for all three.

That way my vest could be wired for both bikes.

FF

 

Trickle chargers are death on batteries, unless they are accurately calibrated to the correct "float" voltage for the specific type of battery (flooded cell, gel cell, vent-regulated lead acic cell, etc.).

 

The easiest and best thing to do for your batteries is hook them up to a low-current charger every month or so and charge them until the voltage rises to about 13.8 to 14.0 volts. This will not result in a 100% charge, but it will be perfectly good enough to eliminate any possibility of sulphating, or other damage.

 

Bob.